City Council: Richfield Roads in Need of Major Repairs

The discussed the need for multiple road repairs, many of them being county roads, at its special work session Tuesday night.

"All of us, I think, have received phone calls and seen letters to the editor about some disrepair on a number of major thoroughfares in the city," said Council Member Sue Sandahl.

One city street identified as being in major need of repairs was 76th Street East, between 12th Avenue and Cedar Avenue.

"Right now I think we're looking at next year and we're going to actually take out six panels," said Steve Devich, Richfield city manager. "It's a concrete road, and we're going to replace it with asphalt."

Devich said the cost of re-paving the road would be between about $1.2 and $1.3 million. He said the city would have to find additional funding in order to re-pave the road and the on 76th Street would not take care of the problem, as the project ends at 11th Avenue.

Sandahl also added that since many of the roads in bad shape—such as 76th Street—are county roads, Hennepin County is largely responsible for repairing them.

"[The country roads] are some of the worst streets, unfortunately," she added. "So we are trying to work with the county to step up the process for repairing those roads."

Penn, Nicollet and Portland Avenues are also in need of repairs. In order to make the necessary repairs, $4.9 million would be needed from the county along with $980,000 in matching funds from the city.

In addition to the actual roadway, sidewalks and retaining walls along Portland Avenue are also in need of repair.

The council will continue to discuss road repair needs in the coming weeks. After the work session, the were they approved the sale of bonds to fund improvements to the city's water system.